Velocipede



Patented Aug. 2

(No Model.) J. S. COPELAND.

VELOUIPEDE.

g ml"! UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES s. COPELAND, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR To THE POPE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

VELOCIPEDE.

sPEoIr-rcATroN forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,368, dated August 2, 1887.

Application filed March 7, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMEs S. COPELAND, of the city and county of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Velocipedes, of which the following is a specification.

My presentimprovements relate to the steering apparatus of velocipedes, and more par- I ticularly to an anti-vibration device or devices operating between the steering-head and the handle bar or bars to lessen the jar occasioned by obstructions in the road, and to make the operation of the machine in which it is applied less annoying and wearisome to the rider.

dle1bar and on the line or x of Fig. 2.

A is a tubular extension of a tricycle steer jug-head, in which is the'adjustable handle rod or support B. Instead of connecting this support B directly to the handle-bar lug, I form the upper part thereof with a neck, B, in which I prefer to form two seats parallel to each other, one on either side of the neck,

and on this neckIform, by preference at right angles or in T form with the rod or support B, a spindle, B having conical bearing-surfaces I)" b at its ends.

D is a handlebar lug, in which the handlebars E E, bearing the handles F F, may be inserted or secured in any suitable manner, and to this lug D, I attach, or by preference form upon and integral with it, a socket, 0, having a threaded bore open on one side to receive the spindle and neck, and in the ends of which I insert the bearing-seats G 0, having bearing-surfaces corresponding with and fitting the bearings b b on the spindle;

Serial No. 219,942. (No model.) I

and O C are set-nuts for securing the bearingseats G O in position when they have been adjusted.

Upon the socket O, I form the holders (3 O, and form them, by preference, on their inner sides to receive grip-plates G G, which are removable, and are held in position by the setscrews H H, having studson their inner ends entering central holes in the grip-plates, or by any suitable means, and by preference I form these grip-plates circular in form, with an annular lip on the inner face of each, and between these grip-plates and the neck B, I insert, by preference, rubber blocks or buffers K K, which forman elastic or spring-action connection between the holders and the support B, and allow a partial rotation of the spindle in'the socket by reason of their yielding resistance, and which may be graduated by the hardness or thickness or compression of the buffers orby setting up the screws and grip-plates. It is obvious, now, that in operation this contrivance furnishes an anti-vibration connection between the handle-bar and the steering-head of the machine-that is to say, that while the arrangement of the spindle and socket, when the bearing-seats are properly adjusted, furnishesaconuection rigid for all the practical purposes of steering the machine and supporting and using the handlebar, and is unyielding to aforce applied either at the handles or at the wheel to deflect the,

steering-wheel and its support from a position at right angles to the axis of the spindle in the socket, and so-does not cause lost motion or interrupted action insteering, yet as to force applied in any other direction, and more particularly as to jars to the steering-wheel and head and extension, and therefore to the support B, caused by irregularities in the roadway or by obstructions, it permits a yielding resistance which overcomes or softens the effect of such jars. 7

It is, obvious that a socket may be made on the support B and the spindle and neck attached to the lug D, or that springs of other material or form may be substituted forthe buffers K, or that the grip-plates G may be dispensed with or formed with or upon the holder 0, and that other modifications of form and arrangement maybe made, without departing from the substance of my invention and still retaining more or less of its advantages; and I do not mean tolimit myself to the 5 precise form shown and described.

seizes mechanism of a velocipede, a hinged lug, a trunnion-joint, and one or more elasticbuli'ers. 4. The combination,witl1avelocipcde steering-head, of a neck, as B, a spindle, as B", with bearings, as b I), a socket, as G, with bearing-seats, as C G, holders, as C O, elastic buffers, as K K, and handle-bar lug, as D, constructed to operate essentially as set forth. 5. In combination with socket, holders, spindle, neck, and a buffer, as K, constructed to operate essentially as set forth, agrip-plate, as G, and device for holding it in position and adjusting it, essentially as set forth.

J. S. COPELAND.

Witnesses:

F. E. BELDEN, G. M. BARNARD. 

